


pins and skewers

by betony



Category: Georgian History RPF, Historical RPF, Undisclosed Fandom
Genre: Chess, F/M, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29391066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betony/pseuds/betony
Summary: Three games of chess Tamar and David played over the years.
Relationships: Tamar of Georgia/David Soslan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	pins and skewers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EllerWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllerWrites/gifts).



> Your brilliant prompts caught my eye, particularly for such a rare pair. I hope you enjoy this, and please forgive any historical inaccuracies on my part.

At eleven, Tamar is maverick; more than once David must remind his tutor’s niece that queens aren’t to move past their assigned squares and rooks simply couldn’t _do_ that.  
  
Tamar only tosses her dark shining hair as she laughs. “What a pity, for it should end this tiresome game all the sooner!”

Rusudan, never one for partiality, quells her niece’s taunts with a snort; the game resumes. When Tamar is named victor at last, it’s as much because she sees twenty moves where David only sees a dozen as because she cheats.

(He lets her. She pretends not to notice.)

* * *

At twenty-one, Tamar is marvelous—and not only to David’s dazzled eyes. She sits enthroned beside her father, the weight of the land resting on her strong shoulders.   
  
He knows this and yet is surprised when she remarks idly that her advisors bid her marry; the only question is to whom. “Will you play for love” —she offers first the red pieces, then the black— “or power?”

David plays this time as never before, all thoughts of childish indulgence gone, until she slides her last dark bishop into checkmate.

“I thought as much,” she says, and rises to go.

* * *

At thirty-one, Tamar is married—and to him. Still it does not seem possible. The years of Yuri have left their mark in the lines about her face, but the smile with which she welcomes David to their bridal chambers is undimmed.  
  
She does not blush, or beckon him to the bed; instead she leads him to the table where Rusudan’s wedding gift is laid out, the pieces as well-worn and familiar as ever.

“I imagine,” she says merrily, “that as a loving wife, I ought to allow you the victory, if only this once.”  
  
(She wins regardless. He doesn’t mind.)

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, any historical inaccuracies are entirely my own, including the particulars of Tamar’s reign and/or the history of early medieval chess. To the best of my knowledge, David Soslan is recorded as being a student of Tamar’s aunt Rusudan (a name shared by their daughter, and presumably named in her honor?) and so it doesn’t seem impossible to me that they knew each other from childhood. “The Knight in Panther’s Skin” features a thinly veiled Tamar-analogue and a knight in her service who’s shown pining for her over years (presumably the stand-in for David); given that the author was a member of Tamar’s court, I wonder if it was an open secret that David was in love with the King (Tamar’s title) for years, even before either of her marriages.
> 
> The Yuri mentioned was Tamar’s first husband, a Russian prince who seems to have been disinclined to give up authority to Tamar. He seems to have been recommended, if not forced on her, by her advisors; she divorced him after a few years, despite the fact that he threw a tantrum including attacking his ex-wife’s kingdom, and married David Soslan instead. What’s impressive about Tamar is whatever her feelings about him might have been, he was absolutely a brilliant choice in terms of consolidating her power—content to yield sovereignty to her (her actual title was King-of-Kings; his was King Consort), and a VERY competent war leader. 
> 
> Medieval chess seems to have been a different creature than modern chess. Unfortunately most sources only cover chess in Western Europe, rather than in Georgia specifically, so please handwave any errors! My understanding that the two opposing colors were red and black (or at least were inked/written down as such), and the Queen’s role as a piece was significantly reduced. Until the Renaissance, the Queen’s sole move was to advance one square diagonally, making her supremely useless. It’s speculated to be largely the contribution of rulers like Tamar that brought about the shift in how we know the Queen-piece today.  
> Finally, for those wondering, the “pins” and “skewers” in the title refer to categories of chess moves.


End file.
